FARMINGVILLE, N.Y.  Lorna Jones decided to brave the blizzard on Friday, venturing onto the Long Island Expressway as the snow began piling up. So did many others here in Suffolk County.

They all came to regret it.

Its terrible. Its cold. I dont know how long Im going to be here, said Ms. Jones, 62, a nurse who stalled near the town of Brookhaven, less than a mile from her destination. Are there any plans to help us?

She said she had slept fitfully in her car, with no food or water, and only a bottle of Listerine next to her on the passenger seat.

We’re in Connecticut. We got 3-4 feet of snow. We started clearing it around 6:00 AM. We burned up the auger clutch on the snowblower about 11:00. And I buried the ATV snowplow twice and had to dig it out each time. We finally quit doing it by hand about 4:15 with fifty feet still to go to reach the road. It looks like tomorrow we’ll be done, not that anything is open or we have any place to go.

It’s the storm of the century, I’m told, at least I’ve never seen a bigger snowfall. BTW, 3-4 more years we’re moving to Texas.

4
posted on 02/09/2013 2:03:11 PM PST
by muir_redwoods
(Don't fire until you see the blue of their helmets)

This is what we’ve become- a nation of stupid, stranded, unprepared and hopeless people waiting for ‘they’- the govt, someone else, anyone else but themselves to help and rescue them. Pathetic, really.

Its terrible. Its cold. I dont know how long Im going to be here, said Ms. Jones, 62, a nurse who stalled near the town of Brookhaven, less than a mile from her destination. Are there any plans to help us?

Life's tough; it's even harder when you're stupid. What ever possessed this woman to get out on the highway during the storm? It wasn't like she hadn't heard about it; the news for the past two days has been wall-to-wall NEMO!

When we lived in the Dakotas years ago, the natives told us to pack a sleeping bag with a blanket, tinned food, crackers water, a flash light and a red bandana for winter driving. The bandana was to be used to tie to the radio antenna in case the car became buried in snow during a storm.

We left the year before just such a blizzard hit. The people there were deluxe preppers.

if i would have to leave my house in a situation like that i would have enough stuff in my forester, including my -40 sleeping bag, to camp in my car for 2 days comfortably. and a couple of books to read.

14
posted on 02/09/2013 2:12:33 PM PST
by bravo whiskey
(People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.)

Yeah, but what makes it so really stupid, is that I gather that this woman didn’t even have to leave, she just wanted to rubberneck. Who does this kind of thing, needlessly, with only a bottle of mouthwash for sustenance?

I know! That’s also why in my family, if someone has to be in the hospital, especially for anything really major where they’re unable to act for themselves, we always have family members take turns staying with them. No offense to the fine upstanding members of the medical profession, but as President Reagan said, “trust but verify”.

In my car, I have three days of food and water for the family (with careful rationing), spare boots and coats, flashlights, Sterno, matches, and more other gear than this woman can imagine. It's all packed neatly - but no Listerine. At home, I have enough food and water, along with alternative fuels, to last a long time. That's one difference between her and a responsible adult.

Another difference is that I planned ahead. If the storm had turned way south and hit my area, I would not have needed to go out or wanted to go out for a very long time. This blizzard was not a surprise. She's a moron for endangering herself and others by taking such a foolhardy risk. Why is she on the road, in the snow, with a warning several days in advance of several feet of snow?

Good grief. She couldn’t think of this before she went out in spite of warnings? Glad I’ll never get her for my nurse. Problem is, she’s not the only doofus like this out there.

Never mind the storm, I am an important person with important things to do. Out of my my way. Nothing bad will ever happen to me, and if it does, it’s someone elses fault and they will have to rescue me- because I’m so important. Idiots one and all!

Well why didn’t the great and powerful MSM just plop Ms. Jones into their Snowcat and whisk her to safety? What, were they plodding lump to lump on the LIE looking underneath for scare stories to publish, then leaving them there?

Mr. Cuomo defended the decision to allow the Long Island Expressway and other major thoroughfares to remain open. In Massachusetts, the authorities banned cars from the roads before the storm.

We wanted to give people an opportunity to get home, Mr. Cuomo said. We didnt want to strand people at work.

Since the storm was going to hit the NY area earlier in the day, why didn't he suggest that State offices close, and employers cut their employees loose early in the day, or better still, suggest people stay home?

In MA, State govt. offices, many city government offices, and all schools were closed. Many other businesses closed around noon, simply to get folks out and home, off the roads, or give them the ability to do last minute errands before the snow got heavy. That contributed to there being NO cars having been abandoned on the roadways to block plows, so the roads could be cleared much earlier.

I'd venture to guess that ALL the major roads in the affected areas in MA are cleared already, and even smaller roads in towns and cities are probably clear. They didn't have to deal with getting around cars left on the roads by drivers who couldn't handle the slush, and diminished visibility from the heavy snowfall.

Yeah, at first glance it sounded fascistic, but looking back at ‘78, it was rather prudent. He knew that there would be many who thought they could handle the snow on the road, but putting the force of law behind the travel ban would make them pay attention. And there was an exception for medical, safety, and utility workers, so the folks who truly HAD to be out on the road were in no danger of being arrested or fined.

Maybe all the snow within reach was yellow. Since she was relatively close, why didn’t she just get out and hoof it? Considering she wasn’t at all prepared, she probably had high heeled sandals and a short skirt on, too. DS!

36
posted on 02/09/2013 2:32:53 PM PST
by Grams A
(The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)

Last Thanksgiving, my Mom was in the hospital. We took turns, even sleeping in the visitor chairs in her room. Good thing we did - they gave her a cough suppressant which made her sleepy and disoriented. If I wasn’t there, she would have fallen out of bed and broken something.

What the heck do they think snow is made of?
= = = = = = = = = = =
Had to get technical didn’t you?
Also, to get the snow she would have had to roll down the window or open the door, find something to put it in(something tells me she would NEVER think to dump the listerine).
Hell, get thirsty enough and fill your shoe.

I agree with that one poster...it is despicable that the Guv ORDERED everyone off the road but just one or two examples of an idiot like this proves his point.

If she is ‘only’ a mile from her destination, walking to it sure beats the hell out of sitting in the car freezing to death.

Oh yes, DON’T EAT THE YELLOW SNOW. Not that there is anything wrong with that if ‘push comes to shove’.

42
posted on 02/09/2013 2:37:04 PM PST
by xrmusn
(6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")

I was watching a history show about the great Dust Bowl on PBS. Well done, survivors stories, the kids dieing from “dust pnemonia, etc.”.

Anyway, this one guys tells the story of him and a cousin with his dad at their house. A huge dust storm comes in, and his cousin (a girl of 10 years or so) runs to her house 5 blocks away.

By the time the dad notices she is gone the storm is upon them. So he “army crawls” on his belly (to try to stay in the little bit cleaner air to the ground) to the cousin’s house to make sure that she made it. She did.

Then, so his son - alone at home - wouldn’t be worried, he turned around and army crawled the five blocks home!

However - a snowstorm with hard winds and white-out conditions is no place to be. There is a reason why folks in the Midwest had ropes between the house and the outhouse.

47
posted on 02/09/2013 2:44:02 PM PST
by 21twelve
("We've got the guns, and we got the numbers" adapted and revised from Jim M.)

I’m sympathetic. Three years ago we got hit with nor’easter that dumped a quick 39”. I have a very large (10,000sq.ft.+) steep sloped driveway. Took me two days, 6 sheer bolts and 4 gallons of gasoline to clear. On top of that I chewed up the honda impellers.

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